John Waller -- I hadn't heard of her either, until I saw her as a mystery guest in a 1955 appearance on WML. She seemed to love entertaining people and she had fun doing it, too. In fact, not so many mystery guests were as fun as she was.
I love this show and especially John Daly as the host What a wonderful person he is so respectful to everyone and such a warm hearted man It’s been such a pleasure to find these shows and thanks so much for who ever puts them on I think the respect for each other shows loud and clear a far cry from today Many thanks
Juanette Butts Arleen did not stand. Usually the women stay seated to say farewell, the men standing. Dana Wynter was an exception in this as well as in her beauty.
There's something incredible about her beauty. I can't put my finger on why she seems more beautiful than almost anyone I've ever seen. I've been mentally comparing her to Audrey Hepburn, but she's even more beautiful, at least here... and in part because of her intelligence. I'd never heard of her before WML. Is she on more than two episodes?
Gracie Fields appeared on the uk version of What's My Line, at the end of the programme Eamonn Andrews bought her back on stage to take a bow and then said to her "This Is Your Life"
When Gracie came in, I thought this is just another old famous lady. To my surprise, she was so entertaining and, like Arlene, I wish she stayed longer.
Me too, the thing about her she was a "total package," Other people were funnier, or could sing better and so on, but she did them all in one package like few others could.
+Major Payne Are you kidding? That was she? I will have to search this movie. She is breath taking. I remember the movie but I was about 10 years of age.
If you look back at newspaper reports from 1960 you would see that Don Rose was forced to leave as rowing coach due to his bad relationship with his team.
Gracie: ‘Sings’ her answer after being asked if she’s a comedienne. Arlene: “A comedienne but not a singer”. The shade. But only Arlene could deliver without a hint of malice.
"You mean to say that this gentleman gets a salary for transporting passengers who don't pay?" 😂 I also had never heard of Gracie Fields before this episode. She was VERY funny!
Wow, some of these comments directed at Ms. Fields about her singing voice deserved an apology afterwards as she was known for her comedy AND strong singing voice. Arlene at 17:31: "I have a feeling you must be a comedienne . . . . a comedian but not a singer"; Bennett Cerf at 18:28: "Despite all evidence to the contrary, have you ever appeared in a musical show?" She seemed a bit embarrassed by Arlene's remark. Granted, Ms. Fields was clowning around here, but it's obvious she's got a great voice, so I don't understand those remarks.
Remember too that they were blindfolded and she wasn't trying to sing as well as she would when performing and Bennett would ask that to see if it was true because he didn't know who it was at the time.
Gracie Fields, a dazzling talent, massively popular with a gorgeous voice and great comic skills, who at one stage during the 1930s was the highest paid film star in the world.
This is a new one on me. Fields was renowned in the UK for her voice and great spirit, but I had no idea she had made any impression on Americans. I need to google this.
No kidding! She was on an episode of "The Rockford Files", which also guest starred Lauren Bacall! If you haven't seen in you should seek it out. The series is streaming on a couple of channels.
Sorry Dorothy missed this one. But her replacement, Dana Wynter was the most amazingly beautiful and captivatingly cultivated female human to ever suspend the breath-taken senses of male-kind!
Questions like "Could I do what you do?" are ambiguous. Does it mean: as Wynter is, right now? No. Does it mean: could Wynter do it in the future, given sufficient training and interest? Possibly. Does it mean: for a woman similar to Wynter but with the required training and interest? Yes.
Why sad? They lived privileged lives....Arlene died last in 02... In San Francisco at an Alzheimer's facility... sad ending for a clever woman but everybody should be so well taken care of... Gable died in 86... Surf died in 71.... Dorothy was murdered in 65... Don't remember John's date. I love the show. I was a little boy when It was on the air.... It's filled with sexism and racism.... But that's what the world was like and in most ways still struggling with..
Thanks Timothy..thought John died earlier.. gonna see if there's a bio.book on him. I liked him but his Tilton School references got tiring..a bit snobby.. but again..In the day
I could only find two more appearances after 1967 of John. One for the Whats My Line at 25 Special in 1975 John looks about the same. and he appeared on a C-SPAN hearing panel in 1986, and he really aged.
They should all be ashamed they didnt guess the rowboat guy. They guessed he was in sports and that he had something to do with a boat....I think Dorothy would have gotten that right. They should have gotten the the dog catcher too.
19:26 Is John not saying that Gracie Fields is in the movie Around the World in 80 Days? He may be mistaken, given how many contemporary performers were in it. but I can't find anything today that shows her participation in that movie.
This is easily explained. Dana Andrews was a cross-dresser and that was unusual in the 1950s. Then with enough heavy makeup he emerged as Dana Wynter. Later in the 1970s he did voice-acting for animation and played Wynter Warlock...
At his size, I wonder if he was a coxswain when he competed rather than an oarsman. Anyway, his career at Columbia ended in disgrace. He was fired in the middle of the 1960 season, something unusual for college sports, especially a non-revenue producing one. Not only did his crews post a 1-14 record during his tenure at what had been one of the more prestigious sports for the Columbia Lions, but there had been a great deal of contention between him and members of the team. In fact, some of the best rowers wouldn't even come out for the team while he was coach. From the Columbia University student newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator, May 4, 1960: spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19600504-01.2.15&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-May+1%2C+1960-----
I'd guess that it was because his size would be ideal for a jockey. No doubt before becoming a coach, he had had experience as a coxswain: the little guy who rides on the front of a crew scull and coordinates the work of the rowers by synchronizing their strokes.
If Ed Wynn and Jean Stapleton had a baby, it would have been the first contestant. It's always interesting to see people on the show who would have been teenagers in the 19th century. 10:10 The second contestant looked like a real weasel, eh? I had a great Aunt who spoke the way Gracie Fields did when she disguised her voice. She spent half her life in the looney bin. 19:05 Arlene had her head turned so she could see through the space beside her nose. She always did that just before she guessed the mystery guest. What a faker! 22:57 The answer is YES, in Asian countries.
I read your comments in many episodes, and your words make me sick. ALL YOU DO IS CRITICIZE OR BELITTLE THE PARTICIPANTS IN WML. THE NEXT TIME YOU FEEL LIKE INSULTS, STUFF IT IN YOUR MOUTH.
Our Gracie recorded for HMV which stands for His Master's Voice and her records recorded in the United Kingdom were released by the Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey, known as RCA Victor from 1929 on. Surprised you didn't know that, you bloody toff!
The Brave Introvert As with so many bright people, it shocks us to learn this about them. But Arleen lived to a v advanced age, so it isn’t quite as shocking.
I can't find anything on Mrs. Brewer (other than the same census results Mark got 6 months ago), which is rather annoying since you'd think her stage name'd get some results, but noooo. The All Important Stand-Up Watch: Everyone did for Mrs. Brewer. Only Dana did for Miss Fields. Tsk, Arlene. (Then again, she was only 60 at that point. And hadn't been knighted yet, as she was later.)
+juliansinger Searching for Mrs. Brewer under her theatrical name of Grandma Darling, I found one item in a show business newspaper, "The Billboard", dated 9/1/45. Darling might have been either her maiden name or the last name of a previous husband. Someone named Anne Darling helped her celebrate her 65th birthday in Buffalo. The item said that she began her entertainment career 50 years earlier in England with a "kiddie revue". There was an Anne Darling who had a career as an actress who was born in what is now Troy, NY in 1915. Isabel Brewer would have been around age 35 at that time.
Strange, for all the good manners on this show, I've noticed John never covers his mouth when he coughs. I'm watching in order, so like 200 shows, it's not the first time, he never does!
Doug w. Dana Wynter was in the movie" The Invasion of the Body Snatchers" with Kevin McCarthy,back in the mid to late 1950's.It was one of the best science fiction movies in films,a cult classic,I would think.It was about aliens replicating your body,as soon as you fell asleep,and the " body forms were pods,that the bodies " developed in.and became" alive" and Was that person's double.I can not remember,the name of the planet,these aliens were from? A very scary,frightening movie when it came out.I think,TCM,has had it on its station.
I had never heard of this mystery guest before. As far as I am concerned she would have drove my to the nut house in just few minutes. I was not impressed.
![What's My Line? - Gracie Fields; Martin Gabel & Dana Wynter [panel] (Apr 27, 1958)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
